Ferguson hails ongoing work in youth development at club

Ballymena United youth team captain Jake McNeill in action against Cliftonville. INBT47-251AC

Glenn Ferguson has given a ringing endorsement of the work being done throughout the various youth sections at Ballymena United.

The Sky Blues manager has already reaped the benefit of some of the talent coming through the Showgrounds ranks.

And Ferguson believes that youth development will come into sharper focus as United attempt to compete to break into the top six bracket in the Danske Bank Premiership.

“It’s a very important aspect of the club,” said Ferguson.

Financially we can’t compete with other teams to bring in better players so if you can pick up a gem or two coming through the system.

When I first came into the job, I had a meeting with all of the coaches from under-11s up and I told them their main objective was to push better players through to the next level and the next age group - that is how hey would measure success.

Over the last couple of seasons, it has started to mature when you look at the number of players in the resevre and youth teams who have played first team football.

This year we’ve had Matthew Shevlin, Jake McNeill, Aaron Harris and Craig Gardiner who have all been there or thereabouts so it’s important we produce players to come through at each age group,” adds Glenn.